Geographical distribution of eye health professionals and cataract surgery in Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the geographical distribution of eye health professionals and cataract surgery procedures in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) over the last decade.Methods: The number of ophthalmologists (defined as physicians who have completed full education and training in ophthalmology), eye doctors (defined as physicians who have completed education and training in only cataract surgery), ophthalmic nurses, and cataract surgery procedures across 16 provinces and Vientiane municipal for the middle/late 1990s, the year 2000, and the most recent year (2005–2006) were obtained from the registration system of eye health professionals and the track record in cataract surgeries in the Ophthalmology Center, Ministry of Health. The number of cataract surgeons (total number of ophthalmologists and eye doctors) per million population, the number of ophthalmic nurses per million population, and the cataract surgical rate were calculated for various geographical units using available population data from the census in 1995, 2000, and 2005. The Gini coefficients, measures of inequality that range from 0 (total equality) to 1 (total inequality), were computed at three time points.Results: The number of ophthalmologists, ophthalmic nurses, and cataract surgery procedures increased in this country as a whole, although the number of eye doctors did not change after 2000. The Gini coefficients for them also improved (Cataract surgeons: 0.792, 0.415, and 0.361; Ophthalmic nurses: 0.448, 0.354, and 0.259 and; Cataract surgery: 0.366, 0.309, and 0.248 in the 1990s, 2000, and 2005-6, respectively).Conclusion: Imbalances in the geographical distribution of eye health professionals and cataract surgery decreased over the last decade.